Learning to Swim...Again
First off, it feels good to be back! I haven't been blogging regularly lately, and I've really missed it. I've missed talking beauty and life with you all and I want to share my journey with learning to swim...again.
Just to be clear, I know how to swim.
Growing up in Southern California, it was pretty much a requirement. It was basically 100 degrees for the whole summer, so the only way to be outside was to be in the pool. I also took swimming classes at the YMCA, so I've always been comfortable in the water. But there's a big difference between splashing around in the pool and actually swimming laps. In fact, I had to pass a swim test to graduate college, but after that, I hadn't even thought of swimming for years.Sometime last year, I started to think that maybe I needed to give swimming another chance. I'd started having back pain (which is still an issue), and the asthma that I thought I'd outgrown as a child was back. We all know that running is hard on your body, but when I started having constant back pain, I started to realize that I might need to totally rethink my workout regimen. Don't get me wrong, I surely wouldn't call myself a runner, but it's a damn efficient workout and I notice a difference in my body when I run jog regularly. Even so, I eventually got to a point where I couldn't justify running when it was causing back pain. Plus, running is really not a good idea if you have asthma. It actually makes asthma worse and I was getting to a point where I was using my inhaler pretty regularly.So, I decided I needed to give up running. And God knows I tried to get into cycling/spinning but it's just not my thing. I love how many calories you can burn in an hour, but I honestly don't like it that much. I think it's because I prefer to workout alone, and I hate being at the mercy of whatever music the instructor decides to play!In late January / early February, I'd finally talked myself into taking the plunge. And my first venture back to the pool was humbling to say the least. I couldn't even swim half a lap without stopping. I was out of breath and swimming slow as hell! Not to mention, I was probably the youngest person at the pool and was struggling.
When I left the pool that first night, I was exhausted and discouraged.
I was hoping that I'd be able to get in a great cardio workout, but I could only swim for a few minutes at a time. I didn't think I'd ever get to the point where I'd have the stamina to swim for 20-30 minutes at a time. When I factored in the time that I spent showering and changing, it didn't seem like it was worth the time and effort to swim at all. I really wanted to give up, but I knew that if I could stick with it long enough to get even a little bit better, it would be totally worth it.So, I stuck with it. I swam and sputtered along once or twice a week for about a month. Then, I decided to sign up for an intermediate swim class and that was a total game changer. My class was a motley crew: there was me, a sixty-ish woman and a fourteen year old boy...it was hilarious! But after four weeks, I really saw and felt progress. I was able to swim a couple of laps at a time, I'd improved my freestyle stroke, and even dared to test out the breast stroke and butterfly. I was feeling myself LOL.I signed up for another session of class and I actually came to enjoy swimming. Maybe it's the constant counting of breaths and strokes, but I find it incredibly relaxing. I feel so much stronger and I'm using my inhaler less too. I've even dropped a few pounds!
As I was thinking about learning to swim (again), I reflected on the fact that as adults, we rarely have the opportunity to truly try something new.
Once we get to a certain point in our career, we may have new tasks or challenges, but they're usually tweaks or continuations on things we've already done. It's easy (and very tempting) to stick with what we know and remain in our comfort zones, but I've really enjoyed challenging myself to take on something new. While it's great to feel like I've mastered a certain skill, I was actually shocked at how amazing it felt to accomplish something that I didn't think that I could do.In those early days, sometimes I'd leave the pool in a serious funk! It felt like I was huffing and puffing and splashing and kicking and not going anywhere. But isn't that how life feels at times? But you just gotta keep on swimming.
"Success is not the absence of failure; it's the persistence through failure." - Aisha Tyler